Dehumidifiers for Basements Vs. Houses

A basement floor with a drain may indicate past flooding.

Dehumidifiers are useful appliances for homes with rooms or spaces that remain damp or moist throughout the day. Oftentimes basements and crawlspaces, lacking adequate air flow, can remain damp even in the driest weather. Choosing a dehumidifier for your basement, versus choosing one for your house, requires examining a few factors.

Basement Dehumidifier: Height

A basement dehumidifier may need to be raised off the floor in case of flooding. The last thing you need is to have to retrieve a plugged-in electrical appliance that is sitting in standing water. Some dehumidifiers are constructed with large castors or wheels that help keep the unit up and out of the water as long as the water level remains beneath an inch or two, which should give you enough time to notice the flooding and move the unit.

Home Dehumidifier: Noise

If you intend to run a dehumidifier in your home, you may have to sacrifice other features and power for the sake of the unit's noise level. A large, powerful dehumidifier sounds something like a window air conditioner when it is running, which may be fine when the unit is tucked away in your basement but is probably not a tenable solution to a damp bedroom.

Basement Dehumidifier: Size

Basements are typically larger than any one room in a home. As such, using a big, powerful dehumidifier is realistically the only way to dehumidify the space and allow the unit to cycle off from time to time. The larger the BTU of a dehumidifier, the more space it takes up and the noisier it is. All of these issues are typically not as much of a problem in a basement as they are in the home.

Home Dehumidifier: Air Conditioners

One of the most common dehumidifiers used in the home is probably the air conditioner. Central air conditioning, as well as window and wall units, all dehumidify the air as a byproduct of their cooling method. As such, for mildly humid rooms, a simple air conditioner may be all that is necessary to make the temperature more comfortable.

References

• Sylvane: Basement Dehumidifier
• Basement Dehumidifiers: Dri-Basement Dehumidifiers
• Mr Fixit: When is a Dehumidifier an Air Conditioner